MASTER 
NEGATIVE 

NO.  95-82427 


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Author: 


Slawson,  Loton  H., 
Company 

Title: 

The  greatest  monopoly 


Place: 


New  York 


Date: 


[1916] 


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MASTER    NEGATIVE    # 


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Slawson,  Lot  on  II.,  company. 

The  greatest  monopoly;  a  book  for  all  who  own 
real  estate  or  who  are  going  to.   New  York, 
Slawson  ^cl916^ 

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THE  LIBRARIES 


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SCHOOL  OF  BUSINESS 

LIBRARY 


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God  made  the  land; 
Man  made  real  estate. 


The  Greatest 
Monopoly 


A  book  for  all  who 
own  real  estate  or 
who  are    going   to 


LOTON    H.    SLAWSON    COMPANY 


NEW    YORK 


Copyright  1918 
Loton   H.  Slawson  Company 


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r^  7%^  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 

A  monopoly  of  a  human  necessity,  a 
monopoly  safeguarded  by  laws,  a  monop- 
oly that  cannot  be  destroyed  by  human 
agency,  is  the  best  investment. 

The  greatest  monopoly  in  the  world, 
the  one  that  has  made  the  largest  number 
of  great  fortunes,  is  ten  miles  long,  en- 
tirely surrounded  by  water,  and  is  safe- 
guarded by  natural  laws. 

Huge  fortunes  of  hundreds  of  families 
were  not  made  by  the  wonderful  sagacity 
and  business  genius  of  their  men.  The 
millions  were  made  by  the  monopoly  of 
Manhattan  Island. 

Founders  of  these  fortunes  had  indus- 
try, thrift,  the  almost  universal  human 
instinct  to  possess  land — and  patience. 
Especially  did  they  have  patience. 

It  didn't  matter  where  they  bought 
land  so  long  as  it  was  a  part  of  the  monop- 
oly of  Manhattan  Island  and  they  were  not 
in  a  hurry  for  their  profit.  All  they  and 
their  heirs  had  to  do  was  to  hold  on  to  it. 


8 


THE      GREATEST      MONOPOLY 


Some,  like  the  Rhinelanders  and  Goe- 
lets,  branched  to  the  right  and  to  the  left. 
Others,  like  the  Wendels,  clung  to  the 
center  of  the  road,  so  to  speak,  and 
marched  straight  up  Broadway. 

The  thinkers  and  the  workers,  who  are 
the  creators  and  the  producers — ^intent  up- 
on making  their  individual  business  a  suc- 
cess, and  in  so  doing  adding  to  the  wealth 
and  greatness  of  the  city  and  the  nation — 
automatically  made  the  land  valuable  for 
the  patient  owners  who  had  no  business 
whatever  except  to  sit  and  wait,  and  buy 
more  land. 

They  didn't  have  to  worry,  these  pa- 
tient waiters.  They  had  no  real  estate 
tribulations  to  develop  the  well  known 
Joban  virtue.  They  just  waited.  Their 
chief  service  was  to  help  themselves  to 
that  justly  famed  commodity  known  as 
unearned  increment. 

The  monopoly  of  Manhattan  Island 
made  their  profit  surer  than  taxes  because 


THE      GREATEST     MONOPOLY 


9 


it    is    of    record    that    some  folk    have 
dodged  taxes. 

Today  this  monopoly  makes  ownership 
of  land  on  Manhattan  Island  as  sure  to 
yield  a  profit  as  at  any  time  in  the  history 
of  New  York  City.  But  if  the  investment 
be  not  wisely  chosen,  if  investors  have  not 
at  their  disposal  the  wisdom  of  Solomon, 
they  may  have  the  tribulations  of  Job, 
and  someone  else  may  reap  the  sure  pro- 
fit from  the  land. 


PRIMITIVE  DAYS  OF  BARTER 

As  a  business,  real  estate  is  the  least 
organized,  the  least  eflScient,  the  most 


It*! 


10 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


archaic  of  any  great,  necessary  commer- 
cial activity. 

Its  methods  are  those  of  the  primitive 
days  of  barter  where  one  man  pits  his 
skill  and  cunning  against  those  of  another 
to  squeeze  the  last  possible  penny  out  of  a 
transaction  without  any  regard  for  the 

future. 

This  is  true  of  real  estate  buying  and 
selling  everywhere.  It  has  never  grown 
up  into  a  real  business,  despite  the  vast- 
ness  of  its  operations.  A  considerable 
percentage  of  the  selling  is  predicated  on 
the  fairly  well  established  truth  that  a 
victim  is  born  every  minute,  although  they 
may  use  the  uglier  word  that  is  no  shorter. 

While  individuals  have  been  bled  un- 
mercifully, the  greatest  real  sufferer  is 
likely  to  be  the  land. 

No  land  has  been  assaulted  more  vi- 
ciously by  greed,  rapacity  and  ignorance 
than  the  monopoly  of  Manhattan  Island. 

It  has  known  the  chicanery  of  agents 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


11 


and  brokers  whose  methods  make  those 
of  the  professional  confidence  man  seem 
mild  and  playful.  It  has  been  defiled  by 
the  crimes  of  jerry  builders.  It  has  been 
profaned  by  architects  whose  atrocities 
flaunt  their  shame  before  eyes  that  still 
approve.  "Shifting  centers,"  the  rapac- 
ity of  landlords,  all  these  things  and  many 
more  conspiring  to  ruin  the  value  of  the 
land,  have  failed.  All  they  could  do  was 
temporarily  to  check  a  natural  increase 
in  value. 

There  is  not  a  square  foot  of  Manhattan 
Island  that  is  not  worth  more  today, 
either  actually  or  prospectively,  than  ever 
it  was.  The  law  of  the  monopoly,  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand,  works  inexorably  here. 

Because  of  this  intrinsic  value,  and  be- 
cause, up  to  a  few  years  ago,  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  miss  making  a  profit  on  any 
purchase  of  Manhattan  real  estate,  it  at- 
tracted more  than  its  share  of  incompe- 
tents,   sharpers    and    downright   crooks. 


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U       THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


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But,  also,  real  estate  has  its  share  of  up- 
right, honorable  men  whose  personal 
standards  of  probity  are  as  high  as  those 
of  any  men,  and  who  have  prospered  ex- 
ceedingly because  they  have  ability  as  well. 

THE  TENDENCY  OF  HUMAN  BEINGS  TO 
FOLLOW  PRECEDENT 

It  is  the  natural  tendency  of  human 

beings  to  follow  precedent — that  is,  to 

proceed  along  the  line  of  least  resistance. 

Most  of  the  precedents  in  the  real  estate 

businesi»  are  evil  when  they  are  not  stupid 

and  wasteful. 

Because  it  knew  the  old  order  must 

pass,  the  Loton  H.  Slawson  Company 
came  into  existence  five  years  ago.  It 
knew  the  real  estate  business  must  be  mod- 
ernized and  organized  upon  efficient  lines. 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


13 


It  knew  that  to  win  the  greatest  success 
it  must  give  the  greater  service.  The 
more  money  it  makes  for  its  clients  in  the 
buying,  selling  and  managing  of  real 
estate,  the  larger  will  be  its  profits,  the 
greater  its  prestige,  the  securer  its  future. 
To  paraphrase  the  words  of  the  late  Mr. 
Henry  P.,  not  O.,  if  this  be  reform,  make 
the  most  of  it. 

You  remember  that,  when  Cecil 
Rhodes  was  working  out  his  plan  of  an 
empire  in  South  Africa,  and  they  called 
him  a  pure  visionary,  he  silenced  his 
critics  with  a  single  sentence: 

**I  unite  imagination  and  six  per  cent." 

It  doesn't  take  much  imagination  to 
realize  the  results  that  must  come  from 
making  real  estate  conform  to  the  stand- 
ards which  other  business  activities  now 
maintain,  because  they  found  that  nothing 
pays  so  well  as  honesty  and  intelligent 
energy.  But  it  takes  something  more  than 
imagination  to  bring  about  a  revolution  in 


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14    THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


methods,  even  to  the  extent  of  establishing 
a  single  firm  on  the  right  foundation. 

There  must  be  a  fighting  spirit  and  an 
organization.  Personal  character,  fitness 
to  qualify  as  an  expert,  unfaltering 
energy,  capacity  really  to  think,  faith  in 
themselves  yet  conscious  of  their  interde- 
pendence, and  faith  in  the  fundamental 
idea  upon  which  the  company  is  formed 
— all  these  things  were  considered  in  per- 
fecting the  organization. 

This  idea  is  to  make  the  buying,  selling 
and  managing  of  real  estate  a  profession 
as  well  as  a  business,  to  command  for  the 
company  the  respect  that  is  the  tribute  to 
honesty,  ethics  and  high  eflSciency. 

A  fine  sense  of  personal  honor  and  of 
business  probity  are  not  incompatible 
with  laziness.  Enthusiasm  doesn't  al- 
ways stand  for  accomplishment.  A  pow- 
erful, fighting  organization  is  needed, 
especially  to  fight  traditions  like  those 
which  rule  real  estate  dealing. 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY    15 

There  is  nothing  in  this  worid  so  hard 
to  overthrow  as  a  tradition.  The  older, 
more  worn  out,  more  useless  it  is,  the 
more  diflScult  it  is  to  destroy  it  if  it  still 
continues  to  work. 

If  you  don't  believe  it,  think  how  most 
of  us  are  arrayed  against  the  introduction 
of  the  metric  system.  We  know  how  much 
better  it  is,  but  just  the  same  most  of  us 
will  fight  with  our  last  breath  to  retain 
our  fool  system  of  weights  and  measures, 
one  of  the  most  absurd  and  ineflFective 
things  ever  invented. 

Fighting  a  tradition  is  like  fighting  an 
Achilles  with  armor  plate  on  his  heel. 

One  of  the  established  traditions  in  real 
estate  is  that  anywhere  from  six  to  sixteen 
brokers  shall  compete  with  each  other  in 
trying  to  sell  a  piece  of  property. 

In  the  old  days,  w  hen  buying  and  selling 
real  estate  was  largely  a  matter  of  per- 
sonal acquaintance,  this  multiple  repre- 
sentation served  well  enough.    Also  grape 


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16        THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


shot  was  once  highly  useful  in  warfare. 
Now  one  is  about  as  eflFective  as  the 
other.  But  only  the  grape  shot  has  been 
abandoned. 


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FROM  SIX  TO  SIXTEEN  BROKERS 


Most  owners  who  want  to  sell  property 
notify  a  list  of  agents  and  brokers,  or 
refer  a  possible  purchaser  to  his  "own 
broker,"  on  the  old  theory  that  he 
needed  all  the  seUing  help  he  could  get. 
This  was  more  or  less  of  a  fact  before 
there  came  into  existence  a  single  organ- 
ization which  can  do  more  for  the  seller 
than  all  the  brokers  taken  together. 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


17 


It  is  just  as  sensible  to  ask  a  dozen 
brokers  to  sell  your  property  in  competi- 
tion with  each  other  as  it  would  be  to 
command  these  brokers  to  bid  against 
each  other  in  buying  a  piece  of  property 
for  you. 

There  is  a  difference  between  having 
property  that  is  for  sale  and  wanting  to 
sell  property.  The  man  who  wants  to 
sell  is  usually  in  a  hurry  to  sell  and  the 
broker  knows  it. 

The  broker  has  only  one  thought — to 
get  his  commission.  He  feels,  not  un- 
naturally, that  he  owes  the  owner  no  more 
consideration  than  the  owner  has  shown 
him.  To  get  the  commission  he  has  to 
make  the  sale,  and  the  easiest,  surest  way 
of  making  a  sale  is  to  bear  down  the 
j;)rice  so  that  he  can  offer  a  bargain. 

He  does  just  that,  taking  full  advan- 
tage of  the  owner's  eagerness  to  sell.  His 
skill  in  beating  down  the  price  is  some- 
times almost  an  exact  science.    He  has  at 


18 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


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his  command  amazing  tricks,  invented 
overnight,  to  say  nothing  of  figures, 
arguments  and  eloquence  calculated  to 
make  the  owner  feel  the  possession  of  his 
property  is  a  liability  and  that  he  ought 
to  be  glad  to  get  rid  of  it  at  any  price. 

It  isn't  any  wonder  that  a  shrewd 
broker  can  confuse  an  owner.  Even  a 
poor  conjurer  can  fool  his  spectators, 
because  he  is  a  specialist  in  fooling  them. 

When  it  comes  to  the  bargaining  that  is 
a  complement  of  nearly  every  real  estate 
deal,  the  average  owner  has  about  as  much 
chance  as  the  average  chauflFeur  would 
have  in  matching  his  wits  against  a  pro- 
f  essional  horse  trader  in  buying  or  selling 
a  horse.    It  is  the  specialist  again. 

There  is  just  one  intelligent,  economic 
way  to  sell  property.  That  is  to  retain  a 
single  organization  the  seller  can  trust 
implicitly,  one  that  has  the  courage  to 
tell  him  just  what  he  reasonably  can  ex- 
pect to  get  for  his  property. 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


19 


The  Loton  H.  Slawson  Company  has 
that  kind  of  courage. 

Moreover,  the  seller  should  choose  the 
organization  that  has  the  machinery  to 
reach  every  possible  buyer  of  his  prop- 
erty, that  can  concentrate  this  machinery 
upon  the  sale  and  carry  it  through  to  the 
best  advantage  of  the  seller  in  time  and 

money. 

The  Loton  H.  Slawson  Company  has 
that  kind  of  machinery. 


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GOOD  JUDGMENT,  A  FEW  FIGURES  AND  A  LAWYER 


20    THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


There  is  a  tradition  that  when  one  buys 
real  estate  on  Manhattan  Island  all  he 
needs  is  good  judgment,  a  few  figures  and 
a  lawyer.  This  holds  if  the  good  judg- 
ment manifests  itself  in  his  retaining  an 
adviser  whose  good  faith  and  capacity 
he  can  trust  absolutely,  for  the  buyer  of 
real  estate  needs  such  a  broker  more  than 
he  needs  a  lawyer,  and  even  more  than  a 
seller  needs  a  single  representative. 

Sometimes  a  man  with  surplus  funds 
turns  to  Manhattan  real  estate  as  the 
surest,  safest,  most  profitable  investment 
in  the  world,  and  he  is  right  in  his  general 
conclusion.  But  this  doesn't  mean  he  is 
qualified  wisely  to  select  particular  par- 
cels of  property. 

More  often  a  man  buys  real  estate  be- 
cause a  good  salesman  convinces  him  he 
is  getting  a  bargain.  All  the  salesman 
wants  is  his  commission.  He  doesn't  care 
what  happens  to  the  man  or  the  property. 

It  is  true  that  the  buyer  of  Manhattan 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY    21 


real  estate  is  safeguarded  as  he  is  nowhere 
else  in  the  world.  The  monopoly  of  the 
Island  insures  the  value  of  the  land.  If 
the  buildings  are  modern,  the  laws  pro- 
tect him  so  far  as  basic  construction  and 
fire  risks  are  concerned. 

But  these  safeguards  cannot  insure  a 
good,  immediate  return  on  his  investment 
and  its  continuance. 

By  far  the  larger  number  of  big  build- 
ings erected  in  Manhattan  are  built  on 
speculation;  that  is,  they  are  built  to  sell. 
An  operator  selects  a  plot  of  ground — 
usually  wisely  chosen — and  buys  it  as 
cheaply  as  he  can,  for  an  operator  has 
capital.  A  builder  does  the  same  thing 
with  money  he  borrows.  Upon  this  land 
an  apartment  house  or  business  building 
is  constructed.  The  property  is  heavily 
mortgaged  for  two  reasons,  the  other  one 
being  that  it  makes  it  easier  to  sell. 

Also  the  builder  will  fill  the  building 
with  tenants  on  as  good  leases  as  possible 


22 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


m^ 


because  that  also  makes  it  easier  to  seD. 
The  builder's  profit  comes  from  the  price 
he  can  get  for  the  property  above  the  cost 
of  the  land  and  the  building. 

Because  of  the  heavy  mortgage,  an 
investor  can  buy  a  paying  property  for 
relatively  a  small  cash  outlay.  The 
builder  can  be  relied  upon  to  make  it  look 
like  a  gilt-edged  investment. 

It  takes  highly  specialized  expert 
knowledge  to  make  certain  that  a  proper- 
ty is  a  good  investment,  something  more 
than  the  assessed  valuation,  the  builder's 
figures,  the  appearance  of  the  building 
and  the  leases. 

The  figures  of  the  builder,  as  well  as 
assertions  about  the  environment,  the 
character  of  the  tenants  and  leases  that 
seem  most  convincing,  are  not  always  to 
be  accepted  without  question.  For  illus- 
tration, the  simple  scheme  of  having  ten- 
ants willing  to  sign  leases  for  high  rents 
has  proved  most  eflFective  in  luring  the 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


23 


innocent  buyer.  There  are  people  eager 
to  sign  these  leases,  provided  they  do  not 
have  to  continue  paying  high  rent. 

When  one  of  the  clients  of  the  Loton  H. 
Slawson  Company  is  interested  in  a  par- 
ticular property,  the  organization  sets 
about  the  difficult  and  exacting  work  of 
making  an  investigation  of  that  property, 
an  investigation  that  includes  what  sociol- 
ogists call  a  survey  and  which  is  bound  to 
reveal  the  innermost  secrets  of  that  prop- 
erty, if  there  are  any. 

All  the  company  asks  is  the  street  and 
number.  It  will  furnish  the  remaining 
information. 

The  location  is  a  matter  of  general  real 
estate  knowledge.  But  there  may  be 
neighborhood  factors  the  builder  doesn't 
know  about,  or  which  he  may  forget  to 
mention.  Often  there  are  signs  of  changes 
which  may  not  become  obvious  for  half  a 
dozen  years  but  which  will  seriously 
affect  the  property  for  good  or  ill. 


24 


THE    GREATEST     MONOPOLY 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


25 


i  «-! 


f  I 


The  actual  cost  of  the  building  is  deter- 
mined by  the  company's  experts.  It  has 
a  system,  a  development  of  many  years  of 
actual  experience  in  building,  which  en- 
ables the  organization  to  do  this  with 
exactness.  Heating,  lighting,  elevators, 
laundry  facilities,  decorations  —  every- 
thing to  the  last  detail  is  considered.  Not 
only  is  the  cost  fixed,  but  the  quality  as 
well,  for  quality  has  an  intimate  relation 
to  upkeep. 

The  renting  attractions  rather  than  the 
selling  attractions  are  carefully  measured, 
and  adaptability  to  the  daily  use  of  the 
tenants.  The  value  of  every  square  foot 
of  rental  space  on  each  floor,  the  yearly 
income  from  each  apartment  or  office,  the 
loss  on  leases— all  these  things  are  set  down. 

A  careful  study  is  made  of  the  character 
and  habits  of  the  tenants,  and  whether  these 
tenants  are  likely  to  add  to  or  subtract 
from  the  renting  value  of  the  property. 

To  the  fixed  charges  are  added  the  oper- 


ating expenses,  repairs  for  tenants  and 
general  repairs.  Nothing  is  omitted.  In 
addition  to  having  before  him  all  the  facts 
the  buyer  will  ever  learn  about  the  prop- 
erty, he  has  many  important  ones  he 
never  could  discover  by  himself.  He  is 
told  frankly  whether  or  not  the  organiza- 
tion making  the  highly  confidential  report 
considers  the  property  a  good  purchase. 
If  it  is  not,  he  will  be  advised  not  to  buy. 
If  it  is,  he  will  be  told  whether  it  is  a  good 
speculation  or  a  rock-bottom  investment, 

and  why. 

If  the  property  has  been  mismanaged 
and  has  possibilities,  he  is  told  how  it  can 
be  brought  back  to  the  standard  that  will 
yield  the  largest  return  and  insure  the 
greatest  security. 

Back  of  this  report  and  its  findings  is 
the  Loton  H.  Slawson  Company.  It  will 
take  over  the  management  of  the  prop- 
erty and  perform  what  it  says  can  be 
accomplished. 


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26 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


This  is  a  part  of  the  special  service  of 
this  organization,  a  service  that  is  peculiar 
to  the  Loton  H.  Slawson  Company. 


A  FINE  FIELD  FOB  A  BilAN  WHO  HAS  FAILED 

There  is  a  tradition  that  real  estate, 
like  insurance,  offers  a  fine  field  for  a  man 
who  has  failed  in  everything  else.  If  he 
has  money  enough  to  rent  desk  room  and 
buy  a  few  signs,  has  energy,  friends  and  a 
certain  amount  of  selling  ability,  he  is 
supposed  to  be  in  a  fair  way  to  succeed. 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY    27 


Even  if  a  man  does  make  a  living  buy- 
ing and  selling  real  estate  for  others, 
it  doesn't  qualify  him  as  a  competent 
broker  nor  as  a  real  estate  adviser  able  to 
handle  large  transactions  successfully. 

In  fact,  the  ramifications  of  Manhattan 
real  estate  are  so  many  that  only  a  large 
organization  of  highly  trained  specialists 
is  equal  to  them. 

This  organization  must  have  executives 
with  a  broad  and  profound  grasp  of  the 
business  of  the  nation,  to  foresee  those 
changes  which  make  for  prosperity  and 
depression  far  in  advance,  for  nothing 
is  so  sensitive  to  business  generally  as 
real  estate. 

They  must  know  in  detail  the  business 
[of  New  York,  not  only  where  the  various 
industries  center,  but  why,  and  if  they 
are  likely  to  change.  They  must  know 
the  people  of  New  York,  at  work,  in  their 
I  homes,  at  play,  for  these  things  directly 
affect  the  value  of  property. 


iS 


llilli^i 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


They  must  be  able  to  understand  the 
meaning  of  thousands  of  facts  that  are 
brought  to  them,  to  put  them  together,  to 
interpret  what  they  mean  now  and  what 
they  will  mean  ten  years  from  now. 
They  must  know  why  an  apartment  house 
that  should  succeed  fails  and  how  to  make 
it  yield  a  profit.  They  must  know  a  retail 
store  will  have  failure  at  one  place  and 
success  a  block  away.    They  must  know 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


29 


Kk   i^ 


SHIFTING  CENTERS 


I  lifi 


why  a  certain  side  of  the  street  means 
profit  while  the  other  side  means  loss, 
and  they  must  understand  the  mystery 
of   the   "shifting   centers."     The  Loton 


H.  Slawson  Company  is  ready  to  place 
at  your  command  an  organization  that 
does  these  things. 

The  shifting  of  centers  which  have 
caused  so  much  disturbance  are  attributed 
not  infrequently,  to  "the  natural  trend 
of  the  forces  of  economic  development," 
which  sounds  well  but  has  the  disad- 
vantage of  not  explaining  anything. 

If  an  industry  has  not  room  to  expand 
in  a  quarter  in  which  it  is  centered,  or  if 
transportation  developments  divert  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  people — for  the 
value  of  real  estate  is  determined  by  the 
number  of  people  and  the  character  of 
the  people  that  pass  it  every  day — these 
might  be  called  the  natural  trend  of 
economic  forces. 

The  simple  truth  is  that  the  shifting  of 
more  than  one  of  these  centers  is  the 
result  of  a  condition  familiar  enough  but 
not  associated  with  Manhattan — absen- 
tee landlordism. 


30 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


When  one  shrewd  operator  takes  ad- 
vantage of  the  stupidity  and  greed  of 
owners  of  property  and  succeeds  in  trans- 
planting a  great  industry  from  one  section 
of  the  city  to  another,  it  takes  a  Hvely 
imagination  to  attribute  the  change  to 
"the  natural  trend  of  the  forces  of 
economic  development." 

There  was  a  time  when  that  part  of 
Broadway  north  of  the  City  Hall  was 
regarded  as  stable  as  the  financial  district 
below.  It  was  the  center  of  the  wholesale 
dry  goods  industry  and  of  great  manu- 
facturing allied  with  it. 

Because  of  this  there  was  great  demand 
for  the  buildings,  although  most  of  them 
were  old  fashioned,  and  rents  were  high. 

Owners  of  these  buildings  had  one  idea 
with  regard  to  them  and  that  was  to 
squeeze  the  last  penny  out  of  them, 
which  means  their  tenants. 

They  refused  to  give  these  tenants  the 
light,  ventilation,  elevators,  fire  prevent- 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


31 


ive  devices — all  those  things  that  modern 
business  now  demands,  not  as  luxuries, 
but  as  necessities.  About  the  only  thing 
these  owners  were  willing  to  give  their 
tenants  was  a  receipt  for  increased  rent. 

The  ignorance  and  greed  of  the  owners 
killed  the  goose  that  laid  the  golden  egg 
with  a  vengeance.  A  shrewd,  big  opera- 
tor, grasping  the  situation,  bought  land 
far  less  valuable  than  that  on  Broadway, 
constructed  big,  modern  buildings  de- 
signed especially  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
industries,  with  fine  light,  good  ventila- 
tion, fast  elevators,  fire  preventives — all 
the  things  his  prospective  tenants  wanted 
and  ever  so  many  more  they  never  even 
dreamed  of,  with  the  result  that  a  great 
center  of  commercial  and  manufacturing 
activity  moved  uptown. 

It  is  the  function  of  an  entirely  compe- 
tent real  estate  organization  to  see  these 
things,  and  before  they  happen.  An 
entirely  competent  real  estate  organiza- 


32 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


m 


tion  must  understand  causes.  It  must 
have  the  capacity  to  foresee  immediate 
results  and  the  things  that  grow  out  of 
them,  which  is  much  more  complicated. 

When  there  is  indicated  a  natural  and 
logical  change  in  business  centers — these 
are  chiefly  due  to  transportation  develop- 
ment— the  inevitable  resulting  shift  of 
population  should  be  anticipated  a  dozen 
years  in  advance.  This  is  not  an  espe- 
cially difficult  problem,  but  it  takes  more 
than  ordinary  knowledge,  judgment  and 
imagination  to  determine  what  other 
activity  this  property  will  best  serve  after 
the  change  takes  place,  and  what  will  be 
the  line  of  development.  A  thoroughly 
competent  real  estate  organization  must 
be  able  to  do  that. 

Furthermore  it  must  be  able  to  doctor 
real  estate  that  suffers  from  that  greed 
and  ignorance  of  owners  which  is  respon- 
sible for  nine-tenths  of  the  ills  that 
afflict  the  good,  honest  land  of  Manhat- 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY 


33 


tan  Island,  to  bring  the  property  back  to 
the  healthful  state  of  producing  efficiency. 

This  can  be  done  by  an  entirely  com- 
petent real  estate  organization. 

For  the  monopoly  of  Manhattan  Island 
makes  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  land  a 
fixed  quantity.  Real  estate  is  a  man-made 
commodity.  What  the  greed  and  ignor- 
ance of  men  has  destroyed,  the  faith,  inteUi- 
gence,  knowledge  and  energy  of  men  can 
build  up  again. 

This  is  a  part  of  the  service  the  Loton 
H.  Slawson  Company  gives  its  clients. 

Its  activities  can  be  defined  in  a  single 
sentence:  It  is  an  organization  that 
gives  a  wholly  efficient  constructive  service. 


34 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


35 


(I* 


ni 


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(1<|.:., 


HOLDING  ON  TO  UNIMPBOVED  PBOPEBTY 

There  is  a  tradition  that  the  big  prolBts 
in  Manhattan  Island  real  estate  come  from 
holding  on  to  unimproved  property. 

The  great  landlord  families  and  cor- 
porations whose  income  is  so  large  that  it 
is  a  constant  problem  to  keep  it  invested 
can  prove  this. 

But  in  these  days  the  spirit  of  business 
is  to  make  money  work,  to  produce  an 
income — not  to  let  it  lie  idle. 

The  Loton  H.  Slawson  Company  has 
made    itself    a    clearing    house    through 


which  an  investment  in  unproductive 
land  is  converted  into  a  dividend-yielding 
property,  while  the  unoccupied  land  is 
improved  and  itself  becomes  productive. 
The  transaction  can  be  set  down  in  a 
few  words,  although  the  operation  is 
suflSciently  complex.  The  owner  of  un- 
improved land  exchanges  it  for  a  modern 
building,  fully  rented,  that  is  a  sound 
investment,  giving  a  certain  income  of 
more  than  six  per  cent  net.  The  exchange 
is  usually  made  with  a  builder  who  pro- 
ceeds to  erect  a  structure  on  the  unoc- 
cupied land,  thus  making  it  not  only 
useful,  but  profitable. 


tiW' 


S6 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


THE  TENANT  WHO  WANTS  TO  MOVE 

There  is  a  tradition  that  when  a  tenant 
wishes  to  change  his  quarters  the  busi- 
ness of  finding  that  which  will  best  meet 
his  demands  devolves  upon  him. 

When  it  comes  to  commercial  leases 
the  changing  of  quarters  is  a  waste  of 
time,  money  and  temper.  The  tenant 
who  wants  to  move  walks  through  the 
streets,  notes  the  "For  Rent"  signs  and 
goes  into  endless  buildings.  He  may 
interview  fifty  brokers  and  each  of  the 


THE  GREATEST  MONOPOLY    37 

fifty  may  submit  lists  of  space.  About  all 
the  broker  does  is  to  close  the  lease,  and 
as  a  rule  he  isn't  much  concerned  whether 
or  not  the  tenant  gets  what  he  wants. 

The  tenant  isn't  supposed  to  have 
expert  knowledge.  He  seldom  takes  the 
trouble  to  make  sure  who  his  neighbors 
are  and  what  the  service  of  the  build- 
ing may  be. 

When  a  client  comes  to  the  Loton  H. 
Slawson  Company  seeking  new  quarters, 
a  trained  expert  is  sent  to  the  present 
business  home  of  the  client.  This  expert 
makes  a  careful  study  of  the  needs  of  the 
client,  the  amount  of  space  necessary, 
the  arrangement  of  lighting,  the  elevator 
service — all  those  things  that  are  asked 
for  and  others  which  the  expert  knows  are 
essential  even  when  the  principal  does  not. 

The  Commercial  Leasing  Department 
finds  exactly  the  right  space  in  the  right 
buildings — giving  the  principal  a  choice 
of  perhaps  two  or  three  because  that  is  all 


I 


38 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY 


39 


I 


the  choice  he  needs.  The  client  will  have 
the  right  kind  of  neighbors;  he  will  be  in  a 
building  that  will  furnish  just  the  sort  of 
service  he  ought  to  have,  and  he  will  be  a 
thoroughly  satisfied  client. 

Conversely  the  wisdom  of  exclusive 
representation  works  with  equal  exactness 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  landlord 
of  a  building. 

Frequently  a  tenant  is  asked  to  consult 
an  oflScer  of  the  corporation  owning  the 
building  or  "Your  own  broker,"  which  is 
an  illustration  of  anybody's  business 
being  nobody's  business. 

The  more  proficient  the  oflScer  in  his 
own  business,  the  less  likely  is  he  to  know 
about  real  estate.  Brokers,  interested 
only  in  making  a  commission,  compete 
with  each  other  along  the  line  of  least 
resistance,  which  is  beating  down  the 
rental  price  to  make  a  bargain. 

In  renting  and  in  selling  the  only  sane, 
sensible  way  is  to  retain  one  agent  for  the 


exclusive  handling  of  the  property.  This 
agent  can  then  afford  to  make  a  special 
study  of  that  property,  to  determine  its 
every  possibility,  and  to  concentrate  upon 
selling  the  space  to  the  best  tenants  for 
what  it  really  is  worth. 

It  pays  best  to  place  the  whole  manage- 
ment of  a  building  in  competent  hands^ 
for  this  management  is  almost  a  science  in 
itself.  You  can't  hire  the  brains,  knowl- 
edge and  experience  necessary  to  manage 
a  big  building  properly  unless  you  pay  a 
big  salary,  a  salary  far  in  excess  of  the 
charges  made  by  an  organization  fuDy 
equipped  that  can  manage  the  property 
far  more  profitably  than  can  any  one  man. 


i 


40        THE    GREATEST     MONOPOLY 


THE    GREATEST    MONOPOLY        41 


THEY  HAVE  PAID  FOR  THEIB  OWN  MISTAKES 

The  Loton  H.  Slawson  Company  places 
all  the  resources  of  its  organization  at 
your  disposal.  Its  executives  have  been 
operators  in  unimproved  property.  They 
made  money  and  they  made  mistakes 
and  they  paid  for  their  mistakes  with 
their  own  money. 

They  have  been  builders  of  big  struc- 
tures, some  of  the  best  in  New  York,  and 
they  profited,  again  paying  for  the  mis- 
takes they  made  with  their  own  money. 
As  principals  they  have  run  the  whole 


gamut  of  real  estate  activity  in  Manhat- 
tan real  estate,  and  this  experience  has 
given  them  a  profound  knowledge,  sup- 
plemented by  constant  study,  which 
enables  them  to  meet  any  situation  with 
confidence,  and  with  the  certainty  they 
will  not  have  to  depart  from  the  standards 
they  have  adopted,  standards  worth 
more  to  them,  as  a  business  asset,  and  in 
personal  satisfaction,  than  in  any  com- 
mission they  could  possibly  receive. 

The  foundation  of  its  organization  is  to 
serve,  to  serve  courageously,  to  serve 
honestly,  to  serve  earnestly,  to  serve  with 
ever  increasing  eflSciency. 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below,  or  at  the 
expiration  of  a  definite  period  after  the  date  of  borrowing,  as 
provided  by  the  hbrary  rules  or  by  special  arrangement  with 
the  Librarian  in  charge. 


DATE    BORROWED 

DATE    DUE 

DATE    BORROWED 

DATE    DUE 

1 

1 

1 

C28(955)100MEE 

r3 


I 


vjaulord 


PAMPHLET  BINDER 


Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
Sfockton,  Cahf. 


DUPLICATE 


J      0044245'580 


D385 
SL18 


3^  x'^ 


Slawson 
The  greatest  monopoly 


jJi. 


^^H  ^^^H 


JAN  1 2199Si 


BOUND 


ftUG  1  0  1956 


'JiK^^iiii 


..-Jf 


*4*^,, 


END  OF 
TITLE 


